Will Humans eventually become Robots in the Future?

May 12, 2018

According to Elon Musk, humans must become cyborgs if they want to stay relevant in a future dominated by Artificial Intelligence.

The speed of human life has increased many times following the advancement in technology. Robotics have certainly come a long way due to the continuous improvements in Artificial Intelligence. A lot of other assisting technologies have also emerged to the scene. Following this trend, a lot of tech people have indicated that humans will have to become cyborgs, a hybrid of a human and machines, in the future to stay competitive with advanced robots.

According to the plans of the researchers, they will also be used to treat different disabilities and medical conditions. They have already developed a lot of artificial limbs, made up of fiber and titanium, which are fully operational and possesses a sense of touch. The most advanced robotic hand, the Terminator, can be controlled through one’s brain.

Elon Musk pointed out towards a massive problem, Mass Unemployment, which humans will have to face as the Artificial Intelligence becomes smarter and smarter. The efficiency of robotic work will be much more than humans as they are less prone to mistakes than us. Hence, we will need to enhance our capabilities in order to keep adding value to the economy. The use of robots will expand ruthlessly as they will be able to anything and everything. Elon Musk seems to agree to that as he said,

“There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot can’t do better.”

He also mentioned that the neural lace he is trying to establish holds key to human sustainability as it will help humanity to merge with machines. This mesh-like structure will be injected into the human body. It will stick to our brains to add digital computing capabilities. The major goal behind all this is to compute complex ideas telepathically or give us additional cognitive or sensory abilities.

Another artificial aid that is used to assist human brains is known as an Implant. According to Ray Kurzweil, an inventor, and director of engineering at Google, suggested that nanobot implants will be used to help us connect to the cloud by 2030s. Other than browsing the internet, we will be able to back up our own brains through this revolutionary invention. The abilities of our brain will continue to improve as this technology becomes more and more sophisticated. Kurzweil explained humans as a hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking in the following words:

“We’re going to gradually merge and enhance ourselves. In my view, that’s the nature of being human — we transcend our limitations.”

He also predicted that most of our thinking will become non-biological as we progress into the 2040s. Considering his reputation for being one of the most prominent and accurate predictors of the future, his word cannot be neglected.

The examples of brain-computer interfaces are readily available in the medical field these days. The tasks performed through them, like communication for locked-in patients and restoration of motor control for paralyzed patients, are considered relatively simple as brain signals from the surface of the skull are decoded to send a motion command to a machine. Mind-controlled drone racing and prosthetic hand with 2-way feedback are complex examples where external signals are used to stimulate the brain.

Having said that, a symbiosis between man and machine is not possible without the in-depth knowledge of brain networks. Bryan Johnson, the Founder of Kernel, acknowledged that as he said,

“We have over 80bn neurons in the brain. Our tools currently give us access to an extremely small number of neurons. With prosthetics, we’re maybe talking about 100 neurons. We need higher bandwidth interfaces.”

All the technologies that we are developing to enhance the medical applications are bound to supersede the human capabilities. This will give birth to a variety of issues that might prove too difficult for us to handle. A lot of scientists have mentioned cyborgs as the next step in evolution. They believe that the rapid expansion of robotics and continuous acceleration of Artificial Intelligence will urge humans to perform beyond their physiological levels.

As space agencies like NASA and SpaceX of Musk are adamant to colonize Mars, we might need to become cyborgs to cope up with such a travel.

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